Archive for the ‘Michele Insley Wilkins’ tag

Dave LaChance and I spent last Sunday, November 16, down on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, where we were meeting up with members of the Cape Cod British Car Club at the Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich. We were taking advantage of their annual charity run, “Freezin’ Fun Run for Kids,” which includes raffles that benefit the Independence House program for women and families; Dave and I were photographing a handful of sports cars that represented the two major families of small-displacement engines for a story in the February 2009 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.

We were happy to meet the Heritage Museums and Gardens PR manager Michele Insley Wilkins and Steve Hatch, the enthusiastic Assistant Curator of History. Steve invited us into the Heritage’s J.K. Lilly III Antique Automobile Museum, which is housed in the beautiful round stone reproduction Shaker barn that we were using as a backdrop for our photos.

Although the museum is currently closed for the season, we were able to view the 2008 season’s very popular Ford Model T centennial display, which will be replaced before the museum reopens on April 1, 2009.

What the collection lacks in Harrah-size volume, it makes up for in significance, with cars like a 1919 Pierce-Arrow touring car playing off the 1909 White steam car, which was in President Taft’s first official White House auto fleet. The gold Presidential seal is visible on the rear door.

Two of the finest early American sports cars were also represented by the collection’s 1912 Mercer Raceabout and 1915 Stutz Bearcat.

Steve told us that the museum is toying with the idea of building a special exhibit around their “alternate fuel” vehicles, which include a 1915 Milburn Light Electric and a 1911 Stanley Steamer. They’re also displaying the original, 800-plus pound battery charger device – which looks like a cast-iron “R2D2,” according to Steve – that refueled their Milburn for many years.

The Heritage Antique Automobile Museum has many more fascinating vehicles, and it’s well worth the trip. Keep an eye on Hemmings Motor News for an upcoming Museum Profile this spring.